PHS boys rout Oyster River for first win of season

Saturday

Dec 21, 2013 at 2:00 AM

DURHAM — The Portsmouth High School boys basketball team is in for a good year if Pat Glynn is comparing it to the school's football team. Even though Glynn's comparison wasn't necessarily a positive one on Friday night, it came after Portsmouth earned a dominating 70-53 win at Division II rival Oyster River on Friday night.

John Doyle

DURHAM — The Portsmouth High School boys basketball team is in for a good year if Pat Glynn is comparing it to the school's football team. Even though Glynn's comparison wasn't necessarily a positive one on Friday night, it came after Portsmouth earned a dominating 70-53 win at Division II rival Oyster River on Friday night.

"Even in football, we started out slow," Glynn said. "I don't like it, but when we get it done, we get it done."

The Portsmouth football team came within a few plays of winning the D-II championship last month, and now the Clipper basketball team is 1-1 on the young season.

Glynn scored 23 points and Nick Mackey added 22 to lead the Clippers, who rebounded nicely from a season-opening 44-38 loss at Pelham on Tuesday. It was the first game of the season for the Bobcats, who saw their opener vs. Pembroke snowed out the same night.

"We love playing against Oyster River," Mackey said. "It was great coming out here and beating them. Finally we put some shots in. We couldn't hit any against Pelham."

Portsmouth struggled in the first quarter, falling behind 9-2 as Chris Gallant scored all of Oyster River's points in the frame en route to a 27-point night. The Clippers ended the quarter on a 10-1 run and led 12-10 after the first period.

"We shared the ball better," Portsmouth coach Jim Mulvey said. "We're having a hard time getting the ball up court and taking shots, and I think sharing the ball and getting some easier looks was good."

Oyster River's Nick Lazar, one of the team's top scorers, was benched for the first half for violating school policy. He finished with six points and was charged with a technical foul late in the third quarter.

The Clippers opened the second quarter on a 13-2 run and didn't look back. The Bobcats responded with spurts (a 7-0 run highlighted by a Gallant 3-pointer), but never got back in the game. Portsmouth led 33-22 at the break.

"The difference tonight is they outworked us," Oyster River coach Stuart Mitchell said. "We had a great four to six minutes in the first quarter, and then we just decided not to play for the rest of the game. We had our opportunities, but they got the rebounds and the 50-50 balls and we struggled with it."

Oyster River couldn't find an offensive groove in the third quarter even with Lazar back on the floor. Aiden Conrad opened the Bobcats' scoring with a 3-pointer to cut the Clippers' lead to 35-25, but that was Oyster River's last points from the field until Gallant drained a 3 with 12 seconds left in the frame. At that point, the game was well out of reach and Portsmouth took a 55-30 lead into the final frame. Mackey hit back-to-back 3-pointers to stake the Clippers to an 18-point lead, and Glynn drained consecutive jumpers to help Portsmouth pull further away.

Things were going the Bobcats' way early, as Gallant opened the contest with a 3-pointer and a jumper to give his team a 5-0 lead. He also hit a pair of layups and a free throw for all 10 of his team's points in the opening frame. The first Bobcat to score other than Gallant was Colin Runk, whose jumper came with 3:42 to go before halftime.

"We were moving the ball pretty well and we were talking a lot on defense," Gallant said about the first quarter. "Once they started scoring a little bit, the talking stopped, and it just got out of hand from there."

Chris Runk scored 10 points for Oyster River, including eight in the fourth quarter as the Bobcats outscored the Clippers 23-15. Oyster River ended the game on a 13-3 run, which included an old-fashioned 3-pointer by Chris Runk and a running layup at the buzzer by Chris Clement.

The teams are scheduled for a regular-season rematch in Portsmouth on Feb. 11, but they could face each other in the upcoming Oyster River holiday tournament, which opens Thursday. Portsmouth's first opponent is Dover and Oyster River will entertain Timberlane.

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